WWW Irkutsk Newsletter
UNIQUE AMPHIBIOUS FIRE-FIGHTING AIRCRAFT DESIGNED IN IRKUTSK
1 November 1999
Irkutsk, 31st October: Russian Emergencies Minister Sergey Shoygu intends
to buy 20 unique amphibious Be-200 aircraft for the Russian Emergencies
Ministry. "We are going to earmark R400m for this project in the year 2000
budget, and this will make it possible to begin the production of four Be-200
aircraft for the Russian Emergencies Ministry," Shoygu told journalists today
during a visit to the Irkutsk aircraft-manufacturing association, which is
designing the Be-200 ChS fire-fighting aircraft at the request of the Russian
Emergencies Ministry.
Sergey Shoygu said the aircraft "is ideal for extinguishing fires on vast areas
in Russia." The Be-200 has a crew of two. It is equipped with the control
system from the Su-27 combat aircraft and the most sophisticated navigation
equipment and instruments for carrying out search operations in any weather
conditions. The Be-200 can carry 12 tonnes of water, twice as much as can be
carried by the latest Canadian aircraft of the same class.
According to Anatoliy Kvochur, an international class test pilot, "the new
Russian aircraft has nothing in the world to match it." According to Kvochur,
"the aircraft has everything - it can fly at a speed of 710 kilometres per hour,
its flying range is 4,600 km, it is mobile and it can be used for several different
purposes." The aircraft can be used not only for extinguishing fires but also
as a passenger aircraft for carrying rescuers. It can be converted into a flying
hospital. The aircraft can take off and land both on water and on conventional
hard-surface landing strips.
A spokesman from the plant that manufactures the latest Su-27 and Su-30
aircraft said 50 per cent of the enterprise's production capacities would soon
be used for the implementation of the Be-200 ChS project. He said Russia's
latest fire-fighting technologies were used when designing the aircraft. He
said China, Australia and some other countries had shown their interest in it.
A test prototype of the Be-200 aircraft spent over 66 hours in the air in
September and October this year. It took off and landed on water 21 times...
Source and copyright:
BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS